Saturday, December 27, 2008

Thievery

What compels people to take what does not belong to them? It's not difficult to understand why someone who is hungry would steal food. That could be attributed to a survival instinct, which is basic. It is however difficult to fathom why someone would feel the need to defeat a bicycle lock to steal a bicycle. Yeah, some jibber-jabberer might argue that one could sell a bicycle in order to attain money to buy food. I don't buy that for one minute because anyone who is hungry enough would find a way to attain food in a more immediate manner, especially in the process of using their basic survival instinct to do so. There's no excuse.

My 64cm 2001 Fuji Track was stolen while locked up to a bike rack in front of a local library branch on December 5th, 2008. Whoever did this did so in broad, mid-afternoon daylight and in front of a very busy library branch. Unless this person was over 6'-4" tall and could operate a brakeless fixed gear bicycle, they had to have pushed it away. A police report was filed and a few days later the Park Rangers were notified personally by me of the theft and given a description of the bike. Apparently the Anaheim PD and Parks Department don't share information of this nature with each other, which is less than efficient.

Since the theft, local second-hand stores have been frequented and a sharp lookout has ensued for anyone in possession of my bicycle. All of the local bike shops know this bike because I rode it everywhere, so they have been alerted as well. In addition to checking out real places my bike might turn up, the virtual world is being covered as well. If it turns up on any auction site that sells bicycles, the proper authorities will be alerted. In essence, whoever took my bike screwed up if they planned to do anything with it, other than strip it down and sell the parts. Even so, some of the parts on that bike were unique and if they show up, it will be investigated.

The best course of action for the person who decided to take my bike without thinking at this point would be to just return it. All they need to do is turn it in to APD, saying they found it and wanted to turn it in. The worst course of action this person could do is ride it around, or try to sell it or any part of it. There are more than a few people who know this bicycle, how unique it is because of the frame size. If the latter action is the case, prepare to be put on blast and hope some of the less understanding friends of mine don't catch you first.